Katherine Chancellor Murphy
Katherine Chancellor Murphy (née Shepherd; formerly Reynolds, Thurston, and Sterling) is a fictional character on the CBS daytime soap opera The Young and the Restless portrayed since 1973 by actress Jeanne Cooper. Much of her history on the series revolves around her long-running conflict with her former paid companion, Jill Foster Abbott (portrayed primarily by Brenda Dickson and Jess Walton). Their feud is one of the longest rivalries on any American soap opera. Biography Katherine was a wealthy pillar of the Genoa City community. She owned Chancellor Industries and, through that, also owned Jabot Cosmetics. Katherine's net worth was estimated to be between 1 and 1.5 billion dollars as of November 2008. Katherine has been credited as a billionaire. Her fortune came from a variety of sources, including: her wealthy family, first husband Gary Reynolds, second husband, Phillip Chancellor II, and from the many business dealings she conducted as CEO on and off over the years at Chancellor Industries. She is widely considered the grande dame and matriarch of Genoa City. Katherine is called by a couple of nicknames: Kay by her closest friends, and Mrs. C by her long-time maid Esther Valentine and friend/memoir co-author Amber Moore. Katherine's rivalry with Jill Foster Abbott has been a key plot element since the 1970s, when Jill had an affair with Katherine's then-husband, Phiilip Chancellor II, resulting in Jill becoming pregnant with his son. Phillip subsequently died from injuries related to a car crash caused by a drunken Katherine; however, he married Jill on his deathbed. After Phillip's death, Katherine moved to have Phillip's marriage to Jill declared invalid. (Katherine had been drunk when she signed divorce papers.) This put Jill and Katherine at odds from that moment on. After years of torment from Katherine, Jill turned the tables on her in July 1998 when she discovered a letter penned by the now-deceased Phillip, naming Jill as the sole owner of the Chancellor Estate. Jill evicted Katherine, who then found a loophole which resulted in Katherine and Jill being forced to live at the Estate together. Phillip was not Katherine's only husband, and he certainly wasn't her only lover over the years. He also wasn't the only man Katherine and Jill were in competition over. As part of one of her more devious schemes, Jill hired a conman named Brian Romalotti whom she dressed up as a wealthy man and rechristened "Rex Sterling". Jill's plan backfired, though, and Katherine and Rex eventually fell in love for real. Unfortunately, their romance ended tragically when Rex spooked a prowler in the middle of the night and was subsequently shot. There was also Gary Reynolds, Katherine's first husband, and the father of her son Brock Reynolds. Katherine's Love Child Judge Arthur Hendricks was Gary's best friend, and the man with whom Katherine conducted an affair during her time apart from Brock's father. While her then-husband, Gary, was spending time overseas with their son Brock, Katherine had an affair with Gary's best friend, Arthur. Shortly before Gary returned, Katherine gave birth to a baby and handed her over to a friend from school named Charlotte Ramsey, with instructions to give her up for adoption. Unfortunately, Charlotte was unable to drop the baby off as planned, and was forced to give her own name as the child's birth mother. Arthur, as we would learn in 2003, would connect Katherine and Jill in a way that none other could...and neither woman would even know it for many years. Katherine and Jill were mortified when, in 2003, they were mistakenly led to believe that they were mother and daughter. Many years later, the woman Jill had always thought of as her mother, Liz Foster, discovered she had a brain tumor. Fearing that her time on Earth was limited, Liz decided to tell Jill that she was adopted. Liz survived, but the secret left Jill reeling. After a long search, she discovered Charlotte's name on her birth certificate. Katherine was shocked when she saw Charlotte back in Genoa City a short time later, but still didn't piece together her connection with Jill. John Abbott, also a former schoolmate, recognized Charlotte. He eventually tricked Katherine into revealing that Charlotte had an abortion, which left her unable to carry children, when she was younger. With the truth about her barren status about to surface, Charlotte went to the Chancellor Estate and confronted Katherine. Charlotte then told Kay that Jill was her biological daughter. Jill, Jill, Jill The revelation about Jill caused Katherine to have a massive stroke, which left her nearly catatonic for quite a while. Still, there was an even greater sadness attached to this newly-revealed family connection. For years, Jill's son Billy Abbott and Katherine's granddaughter Mackenzie Browning had fallen in love. However, the supposed mother-daughter connection between Katherine and Jill would mean that Mackenzie and Billy were first cousins. Unbeknownst to them, the young couple was married, while a paralyzed Katherine could do nothing but watch. A horrified Jill and John tried to stop the wedding, but they were too late. Eventually, Jill managed to inform the newlyweds of the shocking news before the marriage was consummated. Heartbroken, Billy and Mackenzie had their union annulled, and the two separately left town. Jill helped her mother to recover and the two eventually resolved their differences. Despite several obstacles along the way, the two former enemies began to form a true mother-daughter bond. Nevertheless, their feud was decades old, and it remained to be seen if Katherine and Jill could continue to be cordial. Katherine began to have disturbing nightmares involving a baby. She soon determined that they were actually fragments of a repressed memory. Eventually Katherine recalled that years ago--unable to accept the fact that Jill had given birth to a child with her deceased husband Phillip--she kidnapped the baby, and gave him to a woman named Violet Montgomery, whom she met in a bar. Violet was to place the child with a different family. The woman then gave Katherine a different baby that Jill raised as her son, Phillip Chancellor III. While Jill adamantly refused to believe this at first, DNA testing of Phillip's remains confirmed that he was not Jill's biological son. It was then revealed that Jill's real son was, in fact, new-in-town Cane Ashby, who had recently married Amber. Cane eventually ended his relationship with Amber, after he discovered that she had faked their wedding. False Identities Katherine, however, formed a bond with Amber after being trapped with her under the Clear Springs Project wreckage in October 2007. She saw a lot of herself in the young woman, and often offered her advice and a shoulder to lean on when others turned against her. Katherine was again furious with Jill upon learning that her daughter was planning on eloping with Ji Min Kim. She offered Ji Min a bribe not to marry her daughter, but Ji Min declined. He was murdered before he could marry Jill and the investigation proved that David Chow murdered him to pay off some of his gambling debts. On January 25, 2008, Katherine collapsed while talking to Amber. She was then examined at her home by a physician and informed on January 30, 2008 that she had suffered a mini-stroke. Following this terrifying experience, Katherine enlisted Amber's help in writing her memoirs--the prospect of which could be frightening to many Genoa City residents. Katherine was presumed dead. A year later, on January 22, 2009 while still trying to reclaim her true identity as Katherine, Amber accompanied Katherine to the doctor's office for an evaluation including being tested for Alzheimer's disease. Katherine had been having a series of memory lapses that had gotten progressively worse over the weeks. She resisted attempts to get a medical diagnosis on what exactly was happening to her. She has also been trying to help her look-alike friend, Marge Cotroke, stop drinking and enter rehab. On November 7th, 2009 Katherine was driving Marge to the rehab center and then got into a serious car accident during a heavy rainstorm. On November 11th, 2009 Katherine was pronounced dead, but her family and friends didn't know that it was Marge who had died, and that Kay was still alive and lying near the river. Kay was rescued by Marge's friend Patrick Murphy, who thought Kay was Marge, and was taken back to his mobile home. In late December 2008, Katherine finally regained enough memories to realize she was Katherine Chancellor, not Marge Cotrooke. She convinced Murphy to take her to the Chancellor Mansion. He did, and minutes after she arrived, Jill also arrived and was obviously shocked to see her. After the shock wore off, however, Jill was convinced that Katherine was Marge, seeing as Jill remembered Marge from years ago. Katherine, having little memory still, couldn't disprove Jill's theory, and was arrested for trespassing and fraud. She has already remembered an incident with Gloria Fisher upon encountering her at the jail. Time will tell if Katherine will be able to return home where she belongs, or if she will reside in the Genoa City Jail. Katherine subsequently failed a DNA test which would have proven her identity (which calls into question whether she is actually Jill's biological mother). As of March 12th, she has more than just Amber and Murphy believing in her true identity; she also has Nikki Newman who finally believes her. Katherine left Genoa City once again when the second DNA tests came in again saying she and Jill are not mother and daughter. Katherine returned to Murphy's where they reconciled; only later to be visited by Nikki and Paul believing she is Katherine no matter what DNA testing results state. With the help of Nikki she proved to Victor that she is Katherine as well. On March 26th Murphy presented Katherine with an engagement ring and proposed to Katherine back at the diner where Katherine accepted. In return for the Jabot shares which Victor purchased from Gloria, Jill allows the corpse buried in Katherine's grave to be exhumed, and it is subjected to a third DNA test. Ultimately, Jill's DNA matches neither the corpse nor Katherine (whom Jill believes to be Marge). Thus, Katherine's claim about her true identity is bolstered, and it is proven conclusively that Katherine and Jill are not biological mother and daughter after all. After a final pair of DNA tests between Katherine and her son Brock are a match, not even Jill can deny the truth any longer. She bitterly rejects Katherine's overtures of affection, and the ensuing argument reignites the feud between the women in full force. Weeks later on May 1, 2009, Katherine and Murphy are married, with Brock officiating the ceremony. Shortly thereafter, Cane recalled his telephone conversation years earlier with a man regarding their joint plan to con Jill and Katherine. The man bore a striking resemblance to the supposedly deceased Phillip Chancellor III. On June 10, 2009, it was revealed that Phillip was indeed the other gentleman and that he was still very much alive (unknown to everyone except Cane). Katherine suffered a minor stroke after a stressful conversation with Jill on July 1st, but was released. Upon learning that Cane was not Jill's son and that Phillip Chancellor lll was alive and had returned to Genoa City, Katherine suffered another mild stroke. Kay and Jill made peace on November 4, 2009. On November 13, 2009, Katherine Chancellor became Reverend Katherine Chancellor. She became an ordained minister online so that she would be able to officiate the wedding between her dear friend Amber and Amber's longtime boyfriend Daniel Romalotti. Chancellor Industries Goes Public Katherine decided to make Chancellor Industries public and to get others to buy into the company. She only wanted to sell a small number of stock shares so she still could still be the CEO and majority owner. The first one to become a stockholder was Tucker McCall. He wooed Katherine into letting him become a stockholder in the company. For Christmas, Jill gave Katherine a gift, inside which had the name of her real child. Katherine didn't want to open the box because she thought as Jill as being her real daughter. After Jill begged her, she finally opened the box to find the name Joanne "Jo-Jo" Glover and flew to where her daughter was living in South Dakota. When they found her she was a drunk and a bounty hunter. Katherine and Jill flew back with JoJo and she caused trouble from the start. In January, it was revealed that JoJo was sent by Tucker to scam Katherine. Katherine held a stockholders meeting. Tucker was the only one to show up and it baffled Kay, Neil Winters and JT Hellstrom. He revealed to Katherine that he bought all the shares from the other stockholders, which meant that he was now the owner of Chancellor Industries. She thought he was her friend and ally, but knew now he was neither. He revealed that he was her son. Katherine found some dirt on Tucker and planned on using it against him, but decided not to hurt her child. Tucker deiced to give the company back to her, but then Jill printed the dirt in [[Restless Style]]. Tucker, assuming Katherine had something to do with it, refused to give her company back. Relationships Spouses: *Gary Reynolds (divorced) *Phillip Chancellor II (divorced) *Derek Thurston (divorced) *Brian Romalotti\Rex Sterling (divorced) *Patrick Murphy (married) Children: *Brock Reynolds (son with Gary) *Tucker McCall (son with Arthur Hendricks) Grandchildren: *Mackenzie Browning (granddaughter via Brock) Other Relatives: *Ashley Abbott (Goddaughter via friend John Abbott) *Victoria Newman (Goddaughter via friends Victor and Nikki Newman) *Chloe Mitchell (Goddaughter via friend Esther Valentine)